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Statements in '69 Lowell cold case may start this week

By Lisa Redmond, lredmond@lowellsun.com

Updated:
01/15/2013 09:08:29 AM EST

LOWELL -- While prosecutors say they have an eyewitness to Michael Ferreira's role in the 1969 murder of 15-year-old John McCabe, defense attorneys say they have a handful of other suspects -- alive and dead -- they want to pin the murder on.

In Lowell Superior Court on Monday, defense attorney Eric Wilson, who represents Ferreira, argued that he has a list of at least four other men who were suspects at the time of the Tewksbury teen's Sept. 26, 1969 murder.

Wilson, with co-counsel Stanley Norkunas, want to show that someone other than Ferreira may have killed McCabe and that police have the wrong man.

But before the jury sees any such evidence the judge must approve it. After a hearing Monday, Judge David Ricciardone took the matter under advisement.

Prosecutor Thomas O'Reilly objected to the other suspects being introduced into the trial.

"We have an eyewitness to the murder against Ferreira,'' O'Reilly said.

Ferreira, 57, of Salem, N.H., is scheduled to go on trial first. He is charged with first-degree murder and perjury. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Wednesday, with opening statements either Thursday or Friday.

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Walter Shelley, 61, of Tewksbury, is charged with murder and intimidation of a witness, and Brown is charged with manslaughter.

Tewksbury police say McCabe was walking home from a school dance at the Knights of Columbus building on the evening of Sept. 26, 1969 when he was pulled into a car, assaulted and then taken to a vacant field in Lowell. His body was found the next day in the field.

Police say McCabe died from strangulation. He was found "hog-tied'' with a rope around his neck that bound his feet. His wrists were tied and his eyes and mouth were taped shut.

McCabe was allegedly abducted as a prank to teach him a lesson for flirting with Shelley's girlfriend, prosecutors allege.

There were a number of possible suspects at the time, but no one was charged and the case went cold until last April, when three former Tewksbury teens, now in their late 50s, were arrested and charged in connection with the murder.

Last year, an unnamed witness and Brown came forward with information about the murder and Brown, Shelley and Ferreira were arrested and indicted.

After digging through police documents and evidence, Wilson resurrected the names of four men, one of whom is deceased, who were investigated by police as suspects in the murder but were never charged.

One man allegedly made a telephone call to a Catholic priest claiming he killed McCabe and wanted to turn himself in, but the last time he turned himself in to police he was beaten, Wilson said.

The caller gave specific links to the murder, saying McCabe was wearing a black belt to the dance, but when he was found he wasn't wearing it.

The caller also said no fingerprints would be found on the tape because he was wearing black gloves. Testing of the tape yielded no fingerprints, but the tape had black cotton fibers on it, Wilson said.

Another suspect was convicted of a similar crime when he abducted and sexually assaulted an 18-year-old girl using handcuffs and white tape on her eyes and mouth. He strangled her with a rope.

Wilson argued there is no evidence McCabe was hog-tied.

Another man, who has since died, was turned in to police by his brother because of his bizarre behavior, Wilson said. Police found the man's insurance card among the trash in the area of the crime scene.

The fourth man was an alleged member of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang in New Hampshire as a suspect in the drug trade, Wilson said. While the man was in prison, his house was broken into and a large stash of drugs were stolen, Wilson said.

A letter was sent to police linking the man to McCabe's death. Police performed handwriting analysis, but the man was never charged.

The state medical examiner couldn't say whether McCabe was sexually assaulted, but there was a bruise on the boy's private parts, Wilson said. But O'Reilly countered there was a sore on the boy's body, but no evidence of a sexual assault.

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